Patrick Dempsey Responds to "Provocative" Shonda Rhimes: What Did He Say?

While promoting her new book, “The Year of Yes,” in an interview with Larry Wilmore a few weeks ago, the Grey’s Anatomy creator was asked whether she has ever killed off a character because she didn't like the actor.

Considering the tension between Dempsey and Rhimes that existed prior to the latter's character being killed off last season, many jumped to the assumption that Rhimes was referring to Dempsey.

What does the actor have to say about that?

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Dempsey mostly took the high road when it came to his former boss, though he definitely slipped in a few subtle digs as well.

Rhimes "loves being provocative and that's fine for who she is," he said, adding:

"That gets people talking about all the stuff that she's doing. She's an amazing woman who is incredibly productive. She's promoting a book. She's promoting three shows. And she's emerging as the star of all of these things.

"I think she knows how to deal with the media and what she needs to say to get the response that she's looking for. She's very savvy."

"It preserved what felt true to me... that Derek was going to have to die in order for that love to remain honest. Because I really couldn't have the idea that he just turned out to be a bad guy who walked out on his wife and kids be a true story.

"To me, it felt like that was the only way to make Meredith and Derek's magic remain true and forever frozen in time."

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There's a reason I said I'd be happy alone. It wasn't 'cause I thought I'd be happy alone. It was because I thought if I loved someone and then it fell apart, I might not make it. It's easier to be alone, because what if you learn that you need love and you don't have it? What if you like it and lean on it? What if you shape your life around it and then it falls apart? Can you even survive that kind of pain? Losing love is like organ damage. It's like dying. The only difference is death ends. This? It could go on forever.

MEREDITH: "You don't get to call me a whore. When I met you, I thought I had found the person that I was going to spend the rest of my life with. I was done! All the boys and all the bars and all the obvious daddy issues, who cares? I was done. You left me. You chose Addison. I'm all glued back together now. I make no apologies for how I chose to repair what you broke. You don't get to call me a whore."DEREK: "This thing with us is finished. It's over."MEREDITH: "Finally."DEREK: "Yeah, it's done."MEREDITH: "It is done."